After the semi-high-tech Vega turned out to be such a headache for The General, the Chevette was just the ticket: crude, simple, and cheap to build. Already obsolete when it debuted in 1975, the Chevette was a fossil by 1986.

Still, the Chevette got the job done, and GM kept building Chevettes until the 1987 model year. Rear-wheel drive is just the thing for sporty performance cars, but all it gives a cheapo point-A-to-point-B econobox is a big transmission hump/driveshaft tunnel and even less interior space. If only GM had dropped the turbocharged Buick V6 into this car!

I found this Chevette at a local self-service junkyard, and recognized the 80s emblem font and the center brake light as clues that this was a not-much-sought-after late Chevette.